Molybdenum disulfide-hypercrosslinked polymer composite as an adsorbent for determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in environmental water coupled with HPLC-FLD.

A composite was synthesized from two-dimensional molybdenum disulfide (MoS) nanosheets and hypercrosslinked polymers (HCP), and the composite was characterized by infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and specific surface area. The fluffy and porous structure and multiple adsorption sites (π-interaction, static electricity, hydrogen bonding) make it ideal for use as an adsorbent. A pipette tip solid-phase extraction with the composite as the adsorbent combined with HPLC-FLD was developed to determine trace amounts of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (phenanthrene, anthracene, fluoranthene, pyrene, benzo(α)anthracene) in environmental water. Under optimal extraction conditions, the method has a wide linear range (0.5-100 ng mL) and low limit of detection (0.024-0.099 ng mL), and the recoveries of PAHs from spiked environmental water were 73.8% to 123.6% (relative standard deviation ≤ 6.7%, n = 3). Graphical abstract Schematic representation of a three-dimensional molybdenum disulfide-ethylenediamine-hypercrosslinked polymer composite (MoS-EDA-HCP) using pipette tip solid-phase extraction adsorbent for extracting trace levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) prior to HPLC-FLD. HCP, hypercrosslinked polymer; MoS, molybdenum disulfide; EDA, ethylenediamine.